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Lance Benzel

Legal Affairs reporter

Lance Benzel covers legal affairs for The Gazette, with a focus on the criminal courts, and also writes a monthly mountain biking column entitled "Rider in Residence." He joined the newspaper's staff in 2008 after previous stops in Billings, Mont., central North Carolina and Chicago.

Prosecuting attorney Mark Hurbert speaks to the press outside the Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex Monday, Feb. 4, 2018, after a partial mistrial was declared Monday on two felony extortion counts against the ex-El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa. The jury acquitted him of two misdemeanor counts. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

After two mistrials ended in near convictions, special prosecutors on Friday moved to dismiss felony corruption charges against former El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa.

Eli Olivas' attempt to sue Fountain police over a July 2016 marijuana raid has been quashed. He had a license to grow 99 plants and had something like 15. Olivas is a former Green Beret who uses marijuana to treat his PTSD. Wednesday, August 23, 2017. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)

Admitted Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear Jr. has again been ruled incompetent by a judge, keeping his prosecution on hold.

The result of his latest evaluation by state psychiatrists - that Dear,...

A judge Monday denied a request to set bond for one of two 13-year-old boys linked to an alleged "kill list" at Sabin Middle School in Colorado Springs, ordering that he remain in custody. (The Gazette file)

A Colorado Springs woman who admitted that she didn't secure a loaded pistol that her 3-year-old son used to shoot his 2-year-old brother has learned her sentence.

Monica Abeyta, 31, will serve four years on...

This Oct. 17, 2017 photo provided by the Colorado Springs, Colo., Police Department shows Malik Vincent Murphy, who was arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing his younger brother and sister and also attacking his father in their Colorado home. (Colorado Springs Police Department via AP)

Two or more years before Malik Vincent Murphy allegedly stabbed his two youngest siblings to death, he hid out in a bathroom at his high school in Lincoln, Neb., waiting to strangle the next person who walked...

A man who admitted fleeing an August hit-and-run crash that killed a Fountain pedestrian was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison. Richard Bitters, 42, had faced up to 30 years behind bars after pleading guilty...

A Missouri man who randomly killed an Air Force veteran at his Falcon home in August 2016 before barging into a different house declaring, "I am here to slaughter the lambs," has been found not guilty by reason of...